oops -- Oh I would be beside myself too, Coluber!
I am happy to know that the parents will take care of the babies even after they are touched. Hopefully they won't fall out though. I read a little about their lifespan (cardinal) and they should be ready to leave the nest 10-12 days after hatching. They already have some feathers, so perhaps they are close.
Oooh, they're cardinals! Cool.
Thanks for the curse-removal spell. Now I just have to figure out who placed the curse. And his/her birthday. And some candles. And some Tarot cards. And...
coluber, yikes! :-( When I was going through the disappearing-eggs trauma (I was a brand-new mom, the nest was in my hanging flower pot outside, I identified with the mama bird, it was all so sweet and Hallmark, and then hey!!) someone reassured me that if something happens to the eggs, birds just set up another nest and lay more. They're equipped for that kind of thing, it happens.
I grew up in a house with a yard staked out by a pair of robins with no talent for parenthood. Every spring they would build a nest in the shrubbery, somewhere between knee level and waist level and every spring the nest would be raided--sometimes before the eggs hatched, sometimes after.
My mother was an organic gardener and raised worms to use for making her own topsoil. The feeble minded robins knew a good address, but were incapable of living up it.
Perhaps those parents were the lucky if not damaged outcome of a nest-raid, themselves!
Bella--
Believe me, those robins had no talent for parenthood. They were very fond of mother's earthworms, but in six tries they never raised a brood.
Undoubtedly the robin gene pool benefited by "Survival of the Fittest".
lol! Worm junkies -- it was probably for the best.
My cardinal parents are very good. They keep guard of the nest all day. I have a perfect view from a window and watched them feed this morning, and the little babies were absolutely quivering as they screached for food. I was afraid they would fall out of the nest, but the mother pecked one a bit when it got too close to the edge.
Bella--
I'm gifted with cross-species empathy and believe me, I'm sure there are times when Mama and Papa C. are counting the days until first flight.
They left the nest! The babies have already left the nest and although they haven't flown, they were making their way around my wisteria vines beautifully.
They grow up so fast!
Bella--
The extra Vitamin D from the sunlight that came to the nest from your pruning undoubtedly helped. You can be an honorary grandmamma and sport a metaphorical red feather all year long!
My best to the brood and to the overworking parents of the brood.
